DmC: Devil May Cry

DmC: Devil May Cry is a video game developed by Ninja Theory and published by Capcom for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. The game is not related to the events that occurred in the numbered games. It was released on January 15th, 2013 in North America, Australia and Europe and January 18th in Japan.

A demo was released on November 20th for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Story
DmC: Devil May Cry is an alternate universe, having no connection to the current/canon of the original series while starting from the beginning of Dante's exploits as a demon hunter, throughout this story he consistantly shows his growth into something similar to the classic counterpart.

The story takes place in Limbo City, a contemporary town secretly controlled from the shadows by powerful demons, manipulating humanity through the comforts of life. Living on the fringes of the brainwashed society is Dante, a disenfranchised youth at odds with the demons who constantly hunt him and have made his life a living hell for as long as he could remember. Over the course of his battles through the twisted streets of Limbo, Dante is contacted by The Order, a rogue group led by his long-lost brother Vergil, hell-bent on exposing the demons to the world and releasing Limbo City from their clutches. However, as The Order's principle reason for recruiting Dante is because he alone possesses a particular gene that can be used to combat the demons, he remains wary of Vergil and questions his intentions. While Dante fights alongside The Order, he will learn of his past and the family he never knew, while coming to grips with the incredible powers that come with being a Son of Sparda.

Vergil's Downfall
The story of Vergil's Downfall follows Vergil's struggle through an extremely twisted Limbo and tells his story and reveals how he became who he is.

Initial Reception
The initial trailer had an overwhelmingly negative reception, primarily for the drastic redesign of Dante. Apart from altered clothes, weapons, and a sadistic streak, the new Dante featured in the TGS 2010 trailer had primarily black hair with a tuft of white on top, red eyes, and a leaner, gaunter build as compared to the classic Dante. Concerns were also voiced about this version of Dante apparently having acquired a smoking habit, in contrast to the old Dante whose creator, Hideki Kamiya, deemed "too cool to smoke". The new Dante in fact looked so different from the previous games that fans were initially divided as to whether to consider this the original Dante or someone else with the same name. Since the announcement that DmC is a reboot in an alternate setting, the new Dante has gained some acceptance as a different character entirely. It should be noted, however, that Capcom handed down directives to Ninja Theory specifically to change Dante's looks. Originally, Ninja Theory's redesign was still somewhat similar to the "classic Dante," but Capcom told them to keep going further away from that design to something new, even though they expected this to create a negative response.

Ninja Theory confirmed that they will use the Unreal Engine for the new game and not the MT Framework of Capcom (used for Devil May Cry 4), as this game places an emphasis on the environment's animations in contrast to the other games' mostly static worlds. The use of a different, "less-powerful" engine again sparked outrage from certain fans, citing that its use of a locked 30 frames per second would diminish the stylish, fast-paced gameplay the series was known for. Other fans stated that with a lower framerate, split-second inputs like Just Guards would no longer be possible, and therefore diminish the skill required to play the game at a "pro" level, using glitches and certain cancels to achieve high Style scores. The locked framerate was to accommodate for more than just the characters moving about, as the environment itself will change quickly, and without warning, during gameplay. With so much moving onscreen at once, running on 60 fps would incur undesirable slow-down, so the decision to lower the framerate had to be made. Capcom stated they were working closely with Ninja Theory in order to try to give it the feel and speed of a 60 fps Devil May Cry.

Development & Tweaked Mechanics
In the E3 2011 trailer shown after a year of silence, the new Dante is shown transforming into this universe's form of Devil Trigger, although it more closely resembles the Quicksilver Style. This version of Devil Trigger gives Dante a small amount of control over Limbo to reduce gravity, leaving enemies helplessly launched into the air, recovering Vitality, and increasing Dante's speed and attack power while also changing his hair and clothing color. The trailer revealed other aspects such as finishing moves and close-ups similar to Ninja Theory's previous game Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. The trailer also showed off some slight changes to Dante's design, like a longer coat, a less gaunt physique, a slightly different haircut, and a facial structured modeled after Dante's actor Tim Phillipps.

At Gamescom 2011, a new gameplay teaser was released. It showed that Dante can transform his sword Rebellion into an axe (Arbiter), a scythe (Osiris), and a spine-like grappling hook that works much like Nero's Snatch ability, with several more weapons promised in the final game. It was also revealed that the new Dante is a Nephilim (Half-Demon/Half-Angel), instead of being a Half-Demon, which does not make him a human.

Because of this change in lineage, game mechanics were also changed and opened up slightly: there will be three modes available during combat, "angel," "demon," and "normal". "Angel" and "demon" modes are activated by holding one of the trigger buttons, which then allow different functions of the normal face buttons to be used; attack with a normal sword move while holding in the "Angel" trigger performs a scythe attack instead. There will be a variety of angelic and demonic weapons available for Dante, the scythe being one of the angelic weapons, and a battle axe one of the demonic. There will also be two different sets of firearms, one of which was confirmed to be Ebony &amp; Ivory, as well as other firearms like the shotgun for wide-angle blasts.

With Dante's weapons and utilities changeable on the fly, creative combination attacks will be easier to string together. There will be a bigger emphasis on the aerial combat as well, juggling enemies in the air as players string together long and varied combos. Dante's Devil Trigger also promotes the new focus on aerial combat, which launches all enemies into the air, where he can attack them all defenselessly for as long as possible. While larger enemies and bosses can't be launched in the same way, other options open up to the player when DT is used.

The game also has a much heavier emphasis on the environment, with a preview from a released video entitled "The Fight" showing that the city itself is one of Dante's greatest adversaries. At one point a CCTV camera sees him within the city limits, and Dante is pulled into Limbo where demons attack fiercely, and the world itself is no longer safe. With roads giving way to nothingness, and alleyways closing off, Dante must fight not only the demons that appear, but also Limbo itself. One of the easiest ways to do so is by destroying the CCTV cameras that prevent progress. Other times, Dante will be forced to traverse through the twisted city in order to escape, only to have his exits cut off or moved just out of reach, such as shown in the video "The Escape."

Aside from showing off Dante's new Devil Trigger, trailers also showed more gameplay mechanics, such as pulling the demonized CCTV cameras from their sockets to defeat them and using his twin pistols to fire magic bullets that ricochet off countless enemies. The game still uses a time-based input mechanic for combos, like pressing an attack button repeatedly for one attack, while deliberately pausing for a moment in between two presses for a different attack. This keeps in line with all the past Devil May Cry games, instead of the "dial-a-combo" mechanic that was feared to take precedence because of its use in Ninja Theory's past titles. The game also no longer uses a "hard lock" system for Dante's attacks, allowing the player greater freedom in attacking in any direction. As such, the game utilizes a proprietary "Launch" button for attacks like High Time. Jump Canceling even makes a return, as seen in the "Public Enemy" trailer.

As more footage and screenshots are released, the game itself divulges more of the past mechanics that are returning, or coming back in different ways. Fans worried over videos that showed enemies defeated without relinquishing Red Orbs, and the lack of any sort of "Style" meter to gauge the player's proficiency in any given battle. Luckily, Red Orbs have been shown in "The Fight" gameplay video to fly towards Dante after he defeats enemies, just as usual, used to upgrade Dante's abilities and weapons. Along with an improved Style meter akin to the other games that lists a score along with the moves incorporated into the combos, the music itself will begin as a slight background beat, becoming more and more prominent, bringing in guitar riffs and even vocals as the player's performance reaches a higher grade, just as the older system would reach from D up to A and even SSS. Similar to the third and fourth installments in the main series, the Style meter in DmC will retain the currently highest full rank the player has reached until the battle is over, or he is struck by an attack. When the player reaches S Rank and higher, they also receive a boost to their speed, further pushing players to do their best to gain the upper-hand in battle. The music itself still carries with it a flare for the grunge/metal genre that has become ubiquitous with Devil May Cry's soundtracks. The aggrotech song "Never Surrender " by Combichrist was used for the background combat theme in "The Fight" trailer; the band's song, "Sent to Destroy" was also used for the E3 2012 trailer. The front man for Combichrist will also be working on the rest of the game's soundtrack.

Combat
Combat differs from previous games. There are no Styles, but new attack patterns can be initiated by holding down the left or right trigger buttons. Some players report that gameplay speed has been reduced, citing that the game is locked at 30 fps, however it should be noted that reduced framerate does not reduce speed. But does however make movement less fluid. A new inclusion to the combat is the use of Input Buffering, which makes it marginally easier to perform continuous attacks. The style ranks are also different, this one being:
 * Dirty!
 * Cruel!
 * Brutal!
 * Anarchic!
 * Savage!
 * SSadistic!!
 * SSSensational!!!

Pre-Order Bonuses
Different bonuses are offered by retailers when you reserve a copy of the game. By pre-ordering the game through GameStop or EB Games, players will receive the "Samurai Pack," which provide "samurai devastator" skins for the Osiris, Arbiter, and the shotgun, and Orbs to upgrade weapons, and purchase skills and items with at the beginning of the game. They will also receive the Vergil's Downfall DLC for free when it is released.

There is also a "Bone Pack" available exclusively for Amazon pre-orders which includes alternative skins for Dante's weapons crafted from ivory, and an Orb Harvester character ability which enables the player to collect Orbs faster for upgrades.

A pre-order bonus for the "Gold Pack" is also available for those getting the game through Best Buy. It gives the weapons a solid gold sheen, but otherwise does not change their designs. It also includes the "Item Finder" character perk for finding hidden items.